


Roommates in Quarantine – Riren

by ChangeGirlYuki



Series: Roommates in Quarantine [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Eating Disorders, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Memories, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Quarantine, Virus, dark mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:08:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeGirlYuki/pseuds/ChangeGirlYuki
Summary: After all this time they were finally united again, finally able to explore their feelings for each other in peace. Or so they thought. Within weeks, their world is turned upside down by a virus and with all those restrictions and bans, Eren and Levi feel reminded of their past life behind walls, scared of the Titans. Especially Eren starts to show signs of mental diseases. And before he can slip back into bad habits, Levi comes up with a plan to help his boyfriend (and himself as well).
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Series: Roommates in Quarantine [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683892
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	Roommates in Quarantine – Riren

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, this is not really close to the idea I had in mind when I started wrinting this and maybe I'll write something different as some kind of sequel soon. While editing it though, I found that this isn't too bad so I decided to post it anyway. I hope you like it. Please read and be aware of the tags. And! I'm not an expert for mental issues, eating disorders and on how to treat them. This is made up fiction!

Roommates in Quarantine – Riren

*Disclaimer: I don’t own Attack on Titan. No money is made with this, I write for fun and for my dear readers while living off kudos and comments. Enjoy!*

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Eren woke up in the dim morning light that crept through the window and through the small opening between the curtains. For a moment, everything seemed like every other day and he caught himself considering to go back to sleep for a little longer. The more time passed though, the more he remembered. Remembered how he’d gotten fired from his job a week ago because the café he’d been working at had to close. How he couldn’t pay his bills any longer and was forced to live off his friends and room with his boyfriend. It didn’t matter that Levi didn’t mind. That they had considered moving in before the virus came down from Asia, spreading all over the world and messing up everyone’s life. It didn’t sit right with Eren, he was not a charity case and… okay, he was at the moment. But it wasn’t his fault and he knew that. That didn’t mean though, that he was okay. He was anything but okay right now. While Levi got to do home office and work in the living room, Eren couldn’t do much. He could take care of the household, cook and clean, yeah. He could read and watch movies, call Mikasa or Armin or do whatever he liked. The thing was, he didn’t want to do anything. He felt empty and useless. It was just like living on the streets again, being at the mercy of the government, praying and surviving day by day and hope that there would be a brighter future at the end of it all.   
If he’d just been allowed to go out. Going out in the park, meet up with friends, talk to them face to face and see someone else aside from Levi and the face staring back at him in the mirror. And now he felt even worse for thinking that. Eren loved Levi, had loved him from the first time he had seen the man when he was a kid in Shiganshina, had fallen even more for him when he’d joined the Survey Corps and actually got to know the older one. He hadn’t known that Levi had liked him back then as well. He hadn’t seen the looks from those steel grey eyes. When they had met again, in this new life, when Levi had looked at him from behind the counter, waiting for the Earl Grey he’d ordered, when they’d finally found each other again, Levi hadn’t wasted another chance. He had asked Eren out right then and there and a week later they were boyfriends and happier then ever before.   
But now they wasn’t allowed to leave the place, only once a week for grocery shopping. They weren’t allowed to go visit their friends, to visit their neighbors, Eren also couldn’t go to work because he didn’t have a job anymore… And then the news. Every full hour, when the radio or the TV was on, you’d hear about the increasing numbers of sick and then dead people, about stronger restrictions, about scientists and governors discussing things, about other people’s anxieties…   
Eren had tried, really. He had applied for other jobs in different sections, even offered to work voluntary just to have something to do. Because sitting at home and staring out of the window… it was just like standing on top of that wall again and look into the face of a Titan. 

The sun had risen a bit when Eren finally found the energy to get his ass out of the bed. He forced himself to brush his teeth and go into the kitchen. Levi had made him breakfast again. Had done so for a couple days now and Eren felt really bad because he couldn’t bring himself to actually eat it. He had tried and then hid the rest. But yesterday Levi had found out and also stumbled upon the issue of Eren not really eating anything at the moment. The only meal he couldn’t skip was the dinner they ate together. Eren used to take small portions for himself then, joking about eating snacks all day… but that wasn’t true. He just didn’t feel hungry at all and whatever he put into his mouth tasted like ash. Levi had been furious at first, had asked if Eren was sick and why he hadn’t told Levi about his problems.   
The thing was, that this wasn’t the first time Eren suffered from this kind of eating disorder. When he’d started to remember his past life, his life as a soldier, as Humanity’s Hope, he had gone through a similar phase with lots of mental issues, nightmares, suicidal thoughts and all the like. It didn’t help much that his father had also abandoned him after his mother had died in this life as well. Oh, and that nobody aside from him and Levi seemed to remember. Nobody had believed him when he told them about his other life, not even his closest friends. It had taken Eren years to get over it.   
After this discovery, Levi had sat down with him and they’d talked about how Levi had started to remember and how things had been for him. He was about to join the military at that time and life had seemed to him as some kind of cruel joke that repeated itself allover again. Levi had pulled Eren close and hugged him while they remembered together, talked about everything and nothing. In the end, he said that he’d try to help Eren, that Eren should come to him when something was wrong. Yeah, like Eren would burden the man he loved with even more.

Looking down at the perfectly cut ham and mayonnaise sandwich, Eren swallowed against the lump in his throat. He got himself a glass of water and sat down at the table,the full plate right in front of him. Levi had even made a smiley face out of apple slices. The sweet silly thing had Eren giggling while also trying to hide a sob. He took an apple slice with shaking fingers and bit into it. Taking a bite, chewing, swallowing. That wasn’t too hard, he could do it. He could hear Levi talking on the phone in his office, too. Eren wasn’t alone and he was a big boy. He could do this. For Levi.  
But he couldn’t. Again, the food tasted like nothing eatable and when he was down to the actual sandwich, his stomach turned itself upside down and Eren had to push the plate away from him and get out of the room to avoid puking. He rushed into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, arms wrapped around his legs. Rocking back and forth, Eren tried to control his breathing and calm himself down. 

Eren had no idea for how long he sat there. At some point did he calm down but he didn’t dare leaving his spot. If he moved, it might upset his stomach again, or if he got out of the room and smelled the food…  
“Eren?”  
Looking up, Eren saw Levi standing in the doorway. The older man was wearing one of his office shirts despite working at home and the way he stood there, looking down at Eren, it made him feel so small and weak that he started sobbing dryly again. Levi was by his side within seconds, pulling him close and holding him. He didn’t ask questions, he didn’t say that everything would be fine. Levi knew that that would just upset Eren even further. Eventually, Eren calmed down enough for Levi to pick him up and take him to the living room. They sat there, Eren on Levi’s lap and Levi on his comfy plush couch and Eren told Levi about the sandwich and about how he had tried. How he felt so useless and scared and hopeless. And Levi listened. He rubbed soothing circles into Eren’s back and handed him tissues. And when he felt that Eren was done, he kissed his forehead and said: “Eren, how’d you feel if we go out for a couple weeks, maybe longer?”  
“What do you mean, go out? We can’t”, Eren said, frowning.   
Levi nodded and replied in a soft tone: “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I… I talked to my boss today and asked him if I could take a couple days off. He was overjoyed.”  
Needless to say that Levi barely took days off. His boss had his fair share of panic attacks whenever someone questioned if he gave his employee enough time to relax and recharge. Levi Ackerman had always been a workaholic.   
“You don’t have to take days off because of me...”, Eren started, growing upset again. He didn’t need a babysitter and certainly not being babysat by his boyfriend. No, thank you!  
“I didn’t”, Levi interrupted. “Well, not exactly. I took five days off so that we could move.”  
“Move?”, Eren asked dumbly and twitched in irritation. What the hell was going on?  
“You remember how I said that I used to live in a shack in the woods when I regained my memories? How I couldn’t stand the city and moved into the forest, living as some kind of hermit for almost three years?”  
“Yeah…?”, Eren said slowly, frowning deeply.  
“Well, I don’t want to go back to that shack but I managed to find a small place in a calm neighborhood with a garden connected to the forest. It’s about forty miles away and since we’d been talking about moving in together anyway...”  
Levi was interrupted by Eren hugging the air out of him. That sounded absolutely perfect! A garden, a forest, a new place where he could at least go and get some fresh air! He would be able to work in the garden and busy himself with something different then the usual household stuff and maybe he could find a job there…   
“Don’t get your hopes up too far, Eren”, Levi said, sensing what was going on inside of his beloved.   
Shaking his head, Eren let go a little to look up at Levi and smiled softly. “I can’t help it. But I’ll try. Who knows, maybe this place is my chance on getting a job or feel useful again, who knows?”

*time skip*

The change in scenery helped. That both of them were too busy with moving their stuff to watch the news on TV or read the newspapers. Kind of an unintentional break. Or well, not really Eren thought when looked at Levi purposefully putting up his sound system and insisting that they’d listen through his entire CD collection. But it worked nonetheless. It was good having to think about how to furniture the rooms, set up their belongings and clean everything up. Settling down.  
And when that was all done and Levi had to go back to working, Eren tried to keep himself busy as well. He picked up job hunting again, went out in the garden and explored the forest. It helped. Much more then any of them had expected. Sure, it was no wonder cure or whatever. Things were still bad, worse on days when the weather didn’t allow for them to go out. But it was still better then being trapped in the city apartment. And eventually Eren got a job at a crisis hotline. Granted, it might seem a little stupid that he’d listen to other people’s issues on top of his own problems but surprisingly Eren did better. Maybe it was just the feeling of being needed or having a purpose that did the trick, but both of them were grateful for Eren being able to smile more, to be in better moods and get back to his old self. And the virus would be under control some day as well. Until then, Levi would take care of his Eren and Eren would take care of his Levi. They had their backs. Always. 

*End!*


End file.
